Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 80
Hear, O Shepherd of Israel
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For the choir director. To “Lilies.”[a] A Testimony.[b] By Asaph. A psalm.
Opening Plea
1 O Shepherd of Israel, give ear,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are seated above the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might.
Come with salvation for us.
Refrain
3 God, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
The Problem
4 Lord God of Armies, how long will your anger smoke
against the prayer of your people?
5 You make them eat bread with tears,
and you make them drink tears by the quart.[c]
6 You create strife between us and our neighbors,
so our enemies join together in mocking us.
Refrain
7 God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
Past Blessing
8 You brought a vine out from Egypt.
You drove out the nations, and you planted it.
9 You cleared a place for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
the cedars of God with its branches.
11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea,[d]
its shoots as far as the River.[e]
Present Judgment
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?
13 A wild boar from the forest tears it up,
and the wild animals[f] feed on it.
Prayer for the King
14 God of Armies, return now!
Look down from heaven and see,
and take care of this vine,
15 the shoot that your right hand has planted,
the son that you made strong for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire like garbage.[g]
Because of the rebuke from your face they perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
on the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself.[h]
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Cause us to live, and we will call on your name.
Refrain
19 Lord God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
Psalm 77
Will the Lord Reject Forever?
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For the choir director. According to Jeduthun.[a] By Asaph. A psalm.
The Question
1 With my voice to God—
with my voice I cried out to God,
and he listened to me.
2 In the day when I was distressed I sought the Lord.
At night my hand was stretched out,
and it never grew tired,
but my soul refused to be comforted.
3 God, I remembered and I groaned. Interlude
I pondered, and my spirit became weak.
4 You propped my eyelids open.
I was troubled but did not speak.
5 I thought about the days of long ago, the years long past.
6 During the night I remembered my music.
With my heart I pondered, and my spirit asked,
7 “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never again show favor?
8 Has his mercy vanished to the end?
Has what he said failed for all generations?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Interlude
Has he really shut up his compassion in anger?”
The Answer
10 Then I said, “This is what hurts me:
the change of the right hand of the Most High.”[b]
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord.[c]
Yes, I will remember your wonderful work from long ago.
12 I will meditate on all your work,
and I will ponder all your deeds.
13 O God, your way is carried out in holiness.
What god is as great as God?
14 You are the God who performs a wonderful deed.
You made known your power among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude
16 The waters saw you, O God.
The waters saw you and swirled.
Even the depths were turbulent.
17 The clouds poured down water.
The skies echoed with thunder.
Indeed, your arrows shot back and forth.
18 The sound of your thunder was heard in the tornado.
Lightning lit up the world.
The earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your route led through the sea.
Your trail went through the mighty waters,
but your footprints were not detected.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 79
They Have Reduced Jerusalem to Rubble
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A psalm by Asaph.
The Destruction and the Disgrace
1 God, the nations have invaded your possession.
They have profaned your holy temple.
They have reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins.
2 They have left the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the sky.
They have given the flesh of your favored ones to the wild animals.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all over Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
4 We are subjected to contempt by our neighbors,
to mockery and ridicule by those around us.
The Prayer for Justice
5 How long, O Lord? Will you stay angry forever?
How long will your jealous anger burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that do not call on your name,
7 because they have devoured Jacob,
and they have destroyed his pastureland.[a]
8 Do not charge the guilt of our fathers against us.
Hurry, let your compassion come to meet us,
for we are very weak.
9 God, who saves us, help us for the glory of your name.
Deliver us and make atonement for our sins for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Before our very eyes, display to the nations
vengeance for the poured-out blood of your servants.
11 May the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the great strength of your arm
preserve those doomed to death.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times as much scorn
as the scorn that they directed at you, Lord.
13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will praise you forever.
From generation to generation we will recount your praise.
4 When Esther’s female attendants and her eunuchs came and told her what had happened, the queen agonized over it. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he could take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. 5 Esther summoned Hathak, who had been assigned from among the king’s eunuchs to attend to her. She ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.
6 Hathak went out to Mordecai in the public square in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened and the exact amount of silver that Haman had said he would put into the treasuries of the king to destroy the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave Hathak a copy of the written decree which had been issued in Susa to destroy the Jews, so that he could show it to Esther. Hathak was to place the responsibility upon her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 So Hathak went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
10 Esther spoke to Hathak and gave him directions to pass on to Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that it is the law that any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned will be put to death, unless the king holds out the golden scepter to him. Then he will live. But I have not been called to go to the king for thirty days.”
12 They told Mordecai what Esther had said.
13 Mordecai responded, “Take this message to Esther: Do not imagine that of all the Jews, you alone will escape because you are part of the king’s household. 14 If at this time you keep totally silent, relief and deliverance for the Jews will spring up from somewhere, but you and the house of your father will perish. Who knows whether you have become queen for a time like this!”
15 Esther responded to Mordecai, 16 “Go. Gather all the Jews who are found in Susa. Fast on my behalf. Do not eat and drink for three days and nights. I and my young women also will fast in the same way. After that I will go to the king, contrary to the law. And then, if I perish, I perish!”
17 Mordecai went away and did everything Esther had ordered him to do.
In Corinth
18 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them. 3 Because he had the same occupation, he stayed and worked with them, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 Every Sabbath he led a discussion in the synagogue, trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was entirely devoted to preaching the word,[a] testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when they opposed Paul and slandered him, he shook out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”
7 He left that place and went to the house of a man named Titius[b] Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid, but keep on speaking, and do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 He stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Introduction
1 Many have undertaken to compile an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 an account like those handed down to us by those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word from the beginning. 3 For this reason, it seemed good to me also, since I followed everything closely from the beginning, to write an orderly account to you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you were taught.
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 3 He went into the whole region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 Just as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight.
5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be
made low.
The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.
6 And everyone[a] will see the salvation of God.”[b]
7 So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 9 Even now the ax is ready to strike[c] the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?”
11 He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.”
14 Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.